Nov 2019 – 7th Grade

The flags of the Dharma Chariot are Truthfulness and Good Character.

Once we learn to be truthful to ourselves, we learn how to keep all other virtues within us. It makes us stand out and stand up for what we are.

The character is formed by repeated choice of thoughts and actions. Making right choices will enable a good and noble character. Good company (Satsanga) helps tremendously in this endeavor.

We watched a video - https://youtu.be/U3nT2KDAGOc and played games for this topic. During discussion time on which characteristic would they want to improve upon, it was interesting to note , most of them wanted to build up on their perseverance.

We moved to the horses of the chariot. One of the horses is Bala/Strength. Strength is not merely physical but mental and moral strength. We read a story about an 84 year-old nun called Sister Megan Rice  who on July 28^th 2012 with two other accomplices breached the security and entered a nuclear weapons facility in Tennessee to draw attention to the US stockpile of nuclear weapons that she and her co-defendants felt was illegal and immoral. Children discussed – ‘Where does this moral strength come from?’. It is equally important to train your mind to gain strength the way we train to become physically strong. Prayer is one of the tools which brings in joy, peace and love in our bosom and helps strengthen ourselves morally.

Oct 2019 – 7th Grade

Before going onto the values that are represented by the Dharma Chariot, we initially went over the external and internal equipment that aid us in following our Dharma ( by imbibing these values and make them our virtues). Gurudev’s BMI chart was explained in simple terms. Later we discussed the need to keep this equipment sharp by having children come up with their own thoughts on ways to do it.

After narration of Leo Tolstoy’s watch story and watching a video snippet from Kung Fu Panda, we nailed down the following –

1.      What you sow is what you reap

2.      What you think in your mind matters as it shapes your actions.

3.      Like the value of an item depends on its quality, Value / Quality of people depends on the quality of their thoughts

4.      Like a metal needs to go through heat to become better, to mold our thoughts in order to change our habits is not easy but when done willingly, our value increases

For Dharma Chariot, we started with the wheels – Courage and Patience

Courage is not absence of fear but mastering/overcoming the fear. You can show courage not just in extraordinary/life threatening circumstances but simple situations like being first one to speak up in a gathering to make a point. Watched the Ted talk https://www.ted.com/talks/cindy_solomon_how_to_build_your_courage?

Then shared an Indian Cherokee story which highlights the power in trusting the higher power and drawing courage from it.

For patience, we did group discussions on what is patience and what can we do to become more patient. Patience is to accept people (with their weaknesses) and situations (with the challenges they pose) with equanimity and grace. We played some games to tell us that Being more organized, disciplined and mentally (& physically) prepared fosters patience.

We discussed the story of a taxi driver who gave a ride to a chronically ill old woman to Hospice and how it became memorable for both. Children wrote acrostic poems on Patience and shared it with class.

Sep 2019 - 7th grade

Hari om Parents,

Here is the 7th Grade BV update for September:

September 8 – Being the first class, we did ice breakers to serve the purpose of personal introductions as well as gauging how much Ramayana and its characters the kids were familiar with. Then we outlined the whole Ramayana emphasizing the characters, leading up to the episode in Tulsidas ji's Rama Charita Manas known as ‘Vibhishana Gita”. This is the episode where Lord Rama is ready to battle with Ravana and wherein he talks about the Dharma Chariot he rides. He explains Vibhishana why and how this chariot will get him Success in battle over Ravana.

September 15 – Parents Meet & Greet- We played games like Scrambled sentences on one of the Values outlined in 'Key to Sucess' and Scrambled words ( Ramayana Characters) with the parents and also gave them an idea about the Curriculum for this year – ‘Key to Success’ and our approach to this curriculum - Group discussions followed by presentations, variety of games and hands on activities, Videos /Ted talks.

September 22 – We asked the children to discuss in groups about– 

(1) Definition of success 

(2) Role of the external equipment (Sensory organs), the Mind and the Intellect in achieving success. 

Later they presented their discussions. The conclusions we collectively drew were 

(1) Success = Knowledge + Hard work + Attitude 

(2) Knowledge we gather depends on our instruments – Keep them Sharp 

(3) Attitude plays a huge role in sustaining continued success. 

They also played Dumb Charades to revise some important vocabulary they came across in the class.

September 29 – Navaratri Puja & Celebration

Jan 2019 - 7th grade

Self discipline - We watched the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWURnHkYuxM - on the Marshmallow experiment. We talked about delayed gratification and why it is important. Why should we cultivate self-discipline? Kids talked about different ways in which they control themselves from distractions. Kids were very clear about why it is important to be self disciplined and not give in to distractions. We talked about having a clear goal and reminding ourselves of our goal everytime the mind wants to indulge.


Which sensory input is easiest to control? - We split the class into 2 teams and we had a debate on which sensory input is easiest to control. Team A picked "Smell" being the easiest, but lost to the other team, who proved that smell is hard to resist! Team B picked taste, but lost to other team who proved them wrong. Both teams were unanimous that sight was the hardest to control. Ultimately we concluded that no sense organ was easy to control. We also discussed that controlling the senses actually means controlling the mind, and why it was important to control the mind. We discussed that to achieve anything, we cannot afford to get distracted by our senses. For example, a surgeon cannot be distracted, or a soccer player cannot get distracted by a fan in the stands and lose the ball. So whatever the job, being able to control the mind (senses) is most essential.


Mechanics of the mind - We all may see, hear, touch, smell, taste the same food (example: potato chip) but our each of our reaction to what we see, her, touch, smell and taste, is different. What is it that makes each of us react differently to the same situation? We learned about the Vasana layer and how vasanas are our innate tendencies which make us approach situations differently. Can vasanas be changed? Yes, vasanas can be changed and we can replace bad vasanas with good vasanas. It's like forming a good habit. It can be done with knowledge and practice. We also started to understand the BMI chart of Swami Chinmayananda.

Dec 2018 - 7th grade

Can you fully take credit for your achievements? We discussed the different achievements that the children have accomplished in their lives. We looked at each and every achievement and analyzed who all and what all helped them and led them to that achievement. Starting with parents who encourage, drive them to the practices, classes, pay for private lessons and the equipment needed; then the teachers and coaches, the infrastructure like the swimming pools, school system, different organizations, music competition opportunities, playgrounds, sport stadiums etc. And at the ultimate level, our own skill, that we are so proud of, is not something we created, but was given to us by the Creator. We concluded that for every achievement that we think belongs to us, there is a whole community working together to make it happen. So every time we win something or achieve something, remember that the credit does not solely belong to us, and be grateful to everyone who made it possible for us.

We played the game - Lost At Sea - https://insight.typepad.co.uk/lost_at_sea.pdf. We learnt that the things on our wish list may not really be meaningful in our life, and we need to think deeply when we make a wish list for holidays. Maybe we should think of gifting something meaningful for someone else, who may not have all the luxuries that we have.

Nov 2018 - 7th grade

Jñanam (PO Box Mr. God)

Be in good company – Always try to be in good company and get influenced by good people. The more we are with good people, the more we want to be like them and never get bored of doing the right thing.

Have the highest goal - a goal that you can never reach, but you grow in the process of achieving it – Watched Gurudev’s video snippet of how to keep a goal in life - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TTnN2icTm8

Instead of having a goal “I want to be a cardiologist”, change the goal to “I want to be the BEST cardiologist”.

See good in others – Talked about different animals (giraffe, peacock, elephant), how weird each animal actually is, but how we accept them as they are without wanting to change anything in them. Accept others as they are without wanting to change them and see the good in them. Watched snippet from Kung fu Panda where the 5 make fun of Po - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyHTJyfnrV0. Talked about Gurudev’s quote – When love is thick faults are thin, when love is thin, faults are thick.

God’s gifts – Our 5 senses of perception and 5 senses of action are God’s gifts to us. Without these we cannot learn anything, cannot communicate and cannot live normal lives. Whenever we feel like we have lost everything, remember about the 10 organs of perception and action and be grateful for what we have.

Played a game to try and communicate being blindfolded, with ear plugs, with tied hands etc.

Secret of Success – knowledge, humility, hard work, laugh at yourself, take failures as learning experiences. Kids discussed what success means to them. If success is happiness, how do you know you are happy. Discussion topics - What is happiness? How long does it last? Does it last forever? How to make it last forever?

Your sevaks,
Vidya Narayanan, Srinivas Andhavarapu